


falling with you

by Anonymous



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar)-centric, F/M, Gen, i took this prompt and interpreted it very liberally, i wrote this instead of studying for finals, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Azula is observant. She notices things. She knows everything about everyone and makes sure to keep a mental note of it. So it's no surprise that when Zuko comes to challenge her on Sozin's Comet, he brings along that waterbending peasant as backup. It's also no surprise that when Azula shoots her lightning at the girl, Zuko jumps to save her.What a Dum-Dum.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 15
Collections: Anonymous, ZK Drabble December 2020





	falling with you

Their fists collide in an explosion of red and blue, and suddenly Azula is being pushed backwards from the force of the blast. Her back skids over the top of the airship before she’s flipping in midair, and _she needs to grab onto something_ or else she’s going to fall into the bottomless chasm below her. Her fingers skim the surface of the metal, but there’s no grooves to use as handholds and she’s moving too fast and there’s smoke everywhere and everything looks blurry and—

And now she’s falling.

Wind roars in her ears as she falls. Her limbs flail around, causing her to spin in mid-air. As she’s spinning, she notices her brother is also plummeting to his death.

Good. If she has to fall, she’s going to drag her brother down with her.

But then his friends swoop from below on their flying bison and he’s extending his arm to be pulled onto the furry beast. Azula doesn’t miss the way the Waterbender reaches up to latch onto her brother’s arm and yanks him into the safety of the saddle.

She snaps herself back into focus. Her brother made it, and so will she. Azula closes her eyes and tries to think of a way out of her current predicament. Her friends—no, _traitors_ —won’t be able to save her. She’ll need to figure out this by herself, which isn’t a problem. She is the crown princess of the most powerful nation in the world. Azula will be damned if she can’t find a solution on her own. She breathes and thinks for a moment. If she continues falling, she will die. She can’t use her jet propulsion to fly to the airships above her; they’re too far away and she doesn’t think that she’ll be able to get herself in the right position to do so. There’s the cliffside behind her, but she doesn’t have anything to grip onto the rocks with besides her fingers.

Her hair starts coming out of its topknot, and the force of the wind makes her crown dig into her scalp. Maybe she has something to use as a grip after all.

Taking the ornament out of her hair, Azula stops flailing her arms and legs, trying to lie in a straight line. In one swift motion, she’s using her fire to propel herself to the cliffside and she’s skidding against the rocks, hairpiece in hand. She comes to a stop eventually, and looks back at the Avatar’s bison. She smirks.

Even though Azula didn’t capture the Avatar nor kill her brother, she didn’t lose. She has learned all she needs to know about Zuko in order to take him down next time. For there _will_ be a next time. She’ll make sure of it.

* * *

He has the audacity to interrupt her coronation.

He descends from the heavens on that spirits-damned flying bison. Azula doesn’t expect the Avatar to show up here—he should be fighting her father if he had any sense—but she does anticipate Zuko to bring one of his “friends” along to help him, the weakling that he is. And she’s right.

The Waterbender sits atop the head of the bison, right next to her brother. She’s holding the reins as Zuko jumps down into the palace courtyard, declaring how Azula won’t become Fire Lord today. The Waterbender jumps down into the courtyard too, boldly asserting that she’ll be going down.

The whole situation is quite hilarious. Zuko thinks he can beat her. And that little peasant thinks she has any place of circumstance in this situation. They both look so serious in their fighting stances that Azula can’t help but laugh. And now she’s challenging her brother to an Agni Kai during Sozin’s Comet for the throne.

He accepts.

Before she can tell the Fire Sages to make the arrangements for their duel, Azula notices the Waterbender pull her brother aside. They exchange a few words and the Waterbender goes from surprised to angry to deadly serious in the span of seconds. They look at each other for a few seconds before she concedes in their argument and nods. It’s obvious that the peasant isn’t happy about being excluded from the fight, but Zuko assures her this is the best course of action.

Azula scoffs as she turns away from her idiot brother and his companion. It doesn’t matter if Zuzu fights her in an Agni Kai. Fire duel or no, they’re both going to die today.

* * *

She’s out of breath.

_She’s out of breath._

This shouldn’t be possible. Azula has always been the prodigious firebender in the family. Ever since she could conjure a flame from her fingertips, she always beat her brother in spars. She prides herself on knowing every single one of her brother’s moves and she can almost always anticipate his next one. But now the tables have turned and her brother is… is…

No. She will not let him win. Not today. Her eyes narrow as she starts running, propelling herself with blue flames. As she gets closer to her target, she punches hot jets of fire at him relentlessly. He manages to block all of them, but she won’t give up. And then he crouches down and spins on the ground, summoning a ring of fire around him that knocks her backward.

She rolls on the ground for a while before coming to a stop. Azula is too livid to be surprised at her brother’s unfamiliar firebending forms. She gets up and grunts at the pain she feels blooming everywhere. Azula glares at her brother through her uneven bangs and notices how he hasn’t moved at all from his starting position. He’s barely broken a sweat. If they continue fighting like this, she doesn’t know how long she can last. And for the first time in her life, Azula realizes that her chances of winning are next to nothing. She needs to end this soon.

“No lightning today? What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll redirect it?”

He’s taunting her now. He’s taunting her and it’s working. She’s falling prey to his trap. “Oh, I’ll show you lightning!” she screams back, throwing her arms in circular motions. Azula feels the electricity flow in currents around her, sees the bluish white light encircling her. Her aim needs to be true and sure, or else this is it. And even then, there’s always the possibility of Zuko redirecting her lightning back at her, in which case she’s dead. She could laugh at the ludicrosity of the situation; laugh at how far she’s allowed herself to fall.

A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye catches her attention.

Azula sees flashes of green light and hears pieces of a conversation from what seems like decades ago. _I thought you had changed! I have changed._ She sees her brother reach out and the girl pull him into the saddle. She sees how they both came in on that bison and stood up together as a team. She sees the way her brother looks at the peasant, and her decision is made.

She shoots her lightning.

And Zuko—the _idiot_ that he is—jumps in front of the bolt, protecting his love. Azula watches him fall to the ground, twitching with electricity. He writhes on the ground, but makes no move to get up.

_Good. If she has to fall, she’s going to drag her brother down with her._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was for the prompt "falling with you" and I uh... had a very different interpretation of the prompt. And no, this isn't late by a week, what are you talking about?
> 
> Again, thank you so much for reading!


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